


First Blood

by Islair



Series: Breeders AU [4]
Category: The Emperor's Edge Series - Lindsay Buroker
Genre: CarrierVerse, Menstruation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:34:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21903082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Islair/pseuds/Islair
Summary: Technically, this is part four, but things have gotten finished out of order.
Series: Breeders AU [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1548352
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	First Blood

**Author's Note:**

> Technically, this is part four, but things have gotten finished out of order.

In the month since his change, Sicarius had never quite gotten around to investigating what life as a registered Breeder would be like. Instead he had fallen into his normal routine of training, save only for a few small changes to ensure his change was not discovered. Binding his thankfully still small breasts. Taking extra steps to ensure privacy when bathing. That sort of thing.

He still felt like a man. Still thought of himself as a man. Even if his physical body was no longer quite congruent with that self image.

So it came as quite a shock when, having awakened to mild abdominal discomfort, he discovered he was bleeding.

Gentle investigation with his fingers quickly revealed that the bloody discharge was emanating from his new orifice.

He stared down at the blood on his fingers with concern. Why was he bleeding? Had he somehow accidentally injured himself?

Briefly, he considered whether he should go and consult the Shaman who was employed to heal his wounds, but if he was examined, then the Shaman would come to know of his change, and then Hollowcrest would surely be told that story before the day was out. And then he would be in trouble for neglecting to report his change and register for breeding.

So. What to do.

Well, first he should bathe and treat the symptoms. He washed as much of the blood as he could from inside whilst in the bath, and then wadded up a sterile wound dressing and tucked it into his smallclothes to catch any further discharge.

Once dressed, he headed for the Imperial Barracks' Library to consult the Medical Encyclopaedia. If it looked like this was a serious symptom, he could always re-evaluate whether it was worth risking a trip to the shaman afterwards.

* * *

There was of course as yet no chapter in the Encyclopaedia on Breeders. He searched the Women's symptoms index for Vaginal Bleeding instead. "Vaginal bleeding occurring outside of normal menstruation..." began the first sentence of the entry.

Huh.

He had had to memorise a lot of human anatomy during his training, and he could still remember the passages on human female reproductive structures. Menstruation was the process by which the endometrium lining the uterus was shed on a regular monthly cycle. Somehow, though, he had never connected that description with what that would physically involve, so it had not occurred to him before that it would involve bleeding.

So, if this was menstruation, then maybe it was normal. It had been a month or so since his change, so the timing would be right, assuming that Breeders' internal organs followed a similar cycle to that that women's had.

But that still left him with no idea how women had dealt with this condition. If women had regularly walked around with bloodstains on their clothes, even he would have noticed. So they must have had some common strategies for treating this. But since the plague had taken them all, there were none left to ask.

* * *

Okay, lets go about this logically. Princess Marathi would have dealt with menstruation, and her rooms had been left almost untouched since her death. Maybe there would be some clue therein.

He made his way through the corridors to the Princess' suite, and slipped inside. He headed through the bedroom to her private bathing room and started to search the cupboards.

Behind bottles of perfumed shampoo and soap he found a rather plain-looking cardboard box labelled "Mrs. Bardovic's Patented Woodpulp Sanitary Napkins". The instructions printed on the inside of the box lid indicated that these were designed to attach by clips to some sort of belt that was worn under the clothes. "No more embarrassing stained rags to wash. Simply burn after use. Stocked by all quality Druggist's stores."

Of the belt, there was no sign. Not that it mattered, as the Sanitary Napkin itself was clearly too bulky for him to wear under his form-fitting trousers without it being blindingly obvious to everyone that it was there.

But at least he had a lead - this sort of thing had been sold at drugstores. Time to go and investigate a shop or two.

* * *

Pallic's Drugstore had been closed since the plague - the whole family had died leaving no heir to inherit the business. With the population so reduced, there would probably not have been enough business to sustain all the shops that had existed before anyway. Sicarius let himself in the back door, and searched the dusty stockroom. Fortunately, Mrs Pallic had been of tidy habit, and different categories of goods were stacked together on the shelves.

He found a half-opened case of Mrs. Bardovic's Patented Woodpulp Sanitary Napkins shelved with similar products. Each appeared to have patented a slightly different method of attaching the napkin to a belt or smallclothes - clips, ties, buttons - and each kind of the napkins themselves were filled with a different absorbent medium - wood pulp, hemp fibre, cotton wool, kapok. There were also washable cloth napkins that could be reused. All were however far too bulky for him to wear discreetly.

Other solutions were also on offer. The waterproof waxed cloth smallclothes might not leak, but they looked singularly uncomfortable. Oilcloth under-aprons were of no use under trousers.

Finally, as he began to despair of finding a useable product, he spied a case of small boxes on the bottommost shelf.

"Genuine Kyattese Intimate Sanitary Sponges. Generations of Kyattese women have trusted these all-natural absorbent sponges gathered by hand from the beautiful unspoilt reefs that surround the islands. Fitting conveniently inside, they absorb the flow without the inconvenience of bulky napkins!" The main advertising text proclaimed proudly. In smaller lettering underneath: "Boil to sterilise before first insertion, then ensure that the sponge is washed thoroughly before re-insertion at intervals of no more than three hours throughout your period. With careful cleaning, a single sponge will last for several months."

This sounded perfect for his needs. He liberated a couple of packets and headed back to the Imperial Barracks.

With a freshly-sterilised sponge wrung out and inserted, he finally felt confident enough to start his daily training exercises without fear of unsightly bloodstains.


End file.
